Category: Healthy Living

Since purchasing the Breville Smart Grill, I’ve used it to prepare various meals. It heats up quickly and cooks the food fast.

I’ve grilled vegetables, panini sandwiches with sprouted grain bread, and marinated tofu,

 

and yesterday

I grilled chicken breast for my daughter and father.

 

Results? They thought the grilled chicken breast was delicious; however, my daughter says she prefers when I prepare the chicken in the crockpot since it’s not as meaty. Although my daughter does eat meat, she does not consume a lot. So I told her the next time I grilled chicken breast, I would cut them up into smaller pieces. Today I plan to grill carrots, mushrooms, and tomatoes. From my research, the key to grilling carrots on the grill is to blanch them first. Yesterday, Sunday, I took a break from preparing a meal since today is my first day back at work. Since my mother passed, I still have a few things to do to ensure everything goes into my father’s name. However, the majority of the accounts have been successfully transferred to him.

I’ve had a Green Star juicer for several years; however, I purchased the Green Star Elite two days ago. It arrived today!

I love Green Star. Green Star is a popular juicer, and their juicers are impressive. Admittedly, they are a bit pricey; however, they are workhorses and last long.  I already knew that Green Star had made a few changes to its design from my research. For example, the gear housing clamps into place. That technology was not available when I purchased my first Green Star over 16 years ago.  I started juicing shortly after my Green Star arrived. I cleaned the juicer, and I started making juice. Green Star juicers use twin gear technology, so it juices much slower than my Breville juicer, which I love and use; however, I avoid using the Breville for greens.

Choosing the Right Foods

Whole food nutrition is paramount for all, especially those recovering from severe illnesses like my parents. My mother was on-board from the beginning, and we’ve already received miraculous changes with her recovery. The doctors had given up on her, and according to them, she should have already been dead. Well, she’s not, thank God. I’ve been working with my mother using lymphatic drainage massage, essential oils to reduce tumors, and whole food nutrition in her daily lifestyle. The results? Rectal cancer, which we told had been aggressive, and growing at an alarming rate, has stopped growing, and one of the tumors has decreased in size. Praise God! We’re thankful for all things.

He’s a believer

Over the past few years, my brother has also changed his diet. While he wasn’t overweight or had any health-related diseases, he has noticed an improvement in his health. The results from his annual physicals have confirmed that his changes have worked. My brother used to dismiss my views on food and how it affects your overall wellbeing were a bit “out there.” He’s sampled my dark green juices; collards, kale, celery, and lemon, and he seems to enjoy them. He did tell me they were “potent,” but he’s been looking forward to the juices that I prepare. He’s currently at our home; however, he’ll be heading back to his house tomorrow. I’ll be sure to supply him with juices that I’ve prepared. They’ll maintain their freshness since I plan to put his prepared juices into mason jars and seal them with my VacMaster 215.

 

Planting

Of course, consuming whole foods is always the best option. There is numerous produce beneficial for cancer and other health-related illnesses; however, there is innumerable herbs/produce that are nutritional powerhouses when combating cancer, making them super-foods. Along with the traditional crop we plant yearly, I’ll have part of the garden set aside for these superfoods. I haven’t planted anything yet since we’ve been experiencing cold weather at night; however, I do believe I’ll start planting this weekend.

This past weekend, I made this simple dish.

My family loved it, and there wasn’t enough left over for meal prep. That’s fine, next time, I’ll make much more.

This past weekend, I received The Indian Cooking Course, I haven’t had a chance to clip through it completely; however, I’m intrigued by the pictures and the writings of Monisha Bharadwaj, so I’ll know that I’m going to enjoy this book immensely.

Today, I plan to prepare Aloo Gobi. Simple but delicious.

In other news

My mother’s cancer has stopped progressing, and one of the tumors has diminished in size. I see her almost daily and have been using lymphatic drainage massage, and various essential oils that help reduce tumors, and now I’m supplying her nutrition by blending her meals at home, and bringing them in for her to eat. Her doctors told us she would never eat again, and that there was nothing they could do to stop her cancer from progressing. In addition, the food service was giving her the wrong type of food. Lots of sugary/processed food does nothing to fight the illness, instead, it makes the situation worse since sugar feeds cancer. the hospital. Here in Maryland, they are still limiting the number of visitors (two) that a patient can have daily, and you can not visit at the same time.  I find that pointless, especially when at times patients can have more than two of the hospital staff within the room at the same time. However, that’s a rant for another day. We’re continuing to pray without ceasing and count our blessings.

A few days ago, I told my daughter that I’d make Chinese Orange chicken for her and my brother. The orange chicken did not happen since I did not have any oranges in the home. Whoops!

However, I did make a ginger chicken recipe that they both loved very much. They loved it so much that I do not have any suitable leftovers for meal prep. Since they ate most of it within two days, they ate it with the rice I’d made in my much loved Zojirushi rice cooker a few days before. I love this rice cooker; it has a warming feature that allows the rice to stay within the rice cooker for 48 hours. We are rice lovers, and I purchase a massive variety of rice from HMart, the Korean grocery store where I do most of my food shopping.

Updates

Both of my parents are making progress. Thank you, God. It’s an answer to prayer. Many people have been praying for them. My father’s physical therapist had him in his wheelchair today and had him use his legs and arms to navigate around the second floor of their home. I’ll be off of work another week, although I do plan to hop on a few hours when I have the time. The following week, we will have a Home Health aide at home, and I’ll be back at work full-time. As I mentioned in my previous post, I’m thankful that I have a fabulous manager and director that is understanding and willing to work with me during this time. I started at this position a little over seven months ago. With how backward employment laws are here in the USA, they don’t have to work with me if they don’t want to. I’m blessed that they live up to their work/life balance motto. My company says they care about the wellbeing of their employees; they show it through their actions.

I’m still preparing all of my mother’s meals. Earlier this evening, I made soup—the ultimate comfort food.

I made two versions of this soup; Vegan and Chicken ramen soup. Besides ramen and chicken, carrots, shiitake mushrooms, rosemary, ginger, garlic, cilantro, and a few other herbs and spices. It was incredibly flavorful, and my mother and daughter were happy to eat their soup. I figured this would be the perfect meal since they both love soup and noodles.

Caring for the Caregiver

I finally was able to get my mother to get checked today. Yes, it took that long. I stayed with my father, and my daughter went with her. I was able to talk to the Nurse Practitioner on the phone while they were at the facility. They’re going to run more tests, and she also has a few referrals once they receive the test results. I told the nurse that I think this is most likely caused by stress, and while the HCP said this is possible, she’s concerned that it’s been going on for two months. The Nurse practitioner was prescribed a probiotic and given paperwork follow an IBS-friendly diet! I’ve had my mom on that already. When my mother was following this diet, all the symptoms disappeared. However, even though I’ve been preparing her meals for a few months,  the past few weeks, she said she’d been sneaking her old comfort foods back into her diet. Guess when those IBS symptoms started? When she started eating the wrong foods, of course. Sighs

Upon returning home, my mother stated that she’s committed to following the food list. She even gave their next-door neighbor some food that she should not be eating (fried fish). Baby steps, I know she can do this. It can be challenging finding the time to do it all. I’m thankful that I do work from home. However, at times, finding the time to make the meals for my mother can be a real challenge. I don’t seem to have enough hours in my days; however, I still have many to be thankful for. I’m working from home. I have a great boss. I have a loving daughter a supportive and close-knit family. So while it can be hard to add one extra thing to my plate and make those meals, I’ll continue to make them.

Baby Steps

My father is continuing to make progress. It’s slow, but progress is progress.

 

Today has been a hectic day, and now, I finally have time to sit down, relax, and be still. I ran errands for my mother today and did a lot of meal prep for the upcoming week.

 

The above dish was several meals that I made; however, my daughter sampled everything. 🙂

My last day at work for the week is Wednesday; I’ll be off for five days. I’ll be returning to work on Tuesday, 1/18/22. I’m looking forward to having time off and just relaxing. I did have a chance to do some creative work this weekend. I truly enjoyed those few moments escaping into my world of creativity. Yes, those moments creating with my hands were indeed welcomed, and I hope to have more of those moments while I’m off.

While I’m off of work, I plan to watch a few things with Betty White, outside of seeing her in a few series, I’m trying to think if I ever saw her in a movie? I honestly don’t think so. I’ll search to see if I can find any that interests me; if not, there’s always The Golden Girls.

My mother has been reading books that I’d bought for her about FODMAP and IBS. Today when I talked to her, she told me that she would purchase Salmon from the store. I watched my father while she went out. I told her to take her time. When she arrived home, one of the grocery items she had was a large Salmon. She told me, “I just want a little piece of the salmon. Nothing spicy!” Later, while my mom was caring for dad, I cut off a piece of Salmon and froze the rest. To the Salmon that I’d set aside, I added some freshly squeezed lemon, lime, a tiny amount of salt, and black pepper to Salmon. I neatly wrapped the Salmon in aluminum foil, placed it in a glass pyrex baking dish, and put it in the oven. In addition, I added wrapped four sweet potatoes in aluminum foil and placed them alongside the Salmon. I figured that once the salmon had finished cooking, I would leave the sweet potatoes in the oven and let them bake for an hour.

While the Salmon was baking in the oven, I sauteed red potatoes and string beans in some chicken stock on the stovetop. I allowed it to cook down until the potatoes were cooked.

The meal took about 30 minutes to prepare, and I made enough for my mother to have leftovers. I finally got my mother to eat. Results? She loved the meal. I told her to take her time, relax and enjoy herself while I watched my father. She did exactly that. She again thanked me for making all her meals. Initially, she was resistant to me doing this; however, now she accepts this and makes requests. My mother does so much; however, I reminded her that tending to someone solely dependent on the caregiver for everything takes a lot of effort. I’ll try to assist her in making the burden of all the demands that can be placed on the caregiver a bit lighter when possible.

Updates

1. My father continues to make progress and sat up in bed, hanging his legs on the side for about 10 minutes. Baby steps? Yes; however, we are grateful.
2. I received a new work laptop this morning. Hooray! I’ll be returning my old laptop before the year ends.
3. I purchased an Epson Ecotank 4700. I’ll be using it exclusively for Sublimation printing. I’ll be printing designs onto clothing, mugs, tumblers, and various other items.